Apoptotic Effects of Opuntia ficus indica L. Seed Oils on Colon Adenocarcinoma Cell Lines

Opuntia ficus indica L. fruit (cactus pear) seed oil is used in traditional and complementary therapies for its numerous health benefits. The aim of this study was to analyse of the fatty acid content and apoptotic induction effects of spiny and thornless Opuntia ficus indica L. seed (CPS) oils. Spiny and thornless Opuntia ficus indica L. seed oils obtained by supercritical CO2 extraction method and analyzed by GC-MS. Different concentrations of almond oils were incubated for 24 h and 48 h with Colo-320 and Colo-741 cells. Cell growth and cytotoxicity were measured by MTT assays. TUNEL assay was used to detect DNA fragmentation in both cell lines. Linoleic acid was dominant fatty acid followed by oleic acid, palmitic acid and elaidic acid in both type of seed oil. In MTT, spiny CPS oil was found to be active against Colo-320 and Colo-741 cells with 1:16 dilution for 48 h. Also, 1:8 and 1:16 dilutions of thornless CPS oil showed significant reduction in the number of viable cells in Colo-320 and Colo-741 cells, respectively. The number of TUNEL positive cells were significantly higher in Colo-320 cells treated with thornless CPS when compare with control group (p < 0.05).We conclude that thornless CPS oil may have anticancer effect on primer colon adenocarcinoma cell lines. The effect can be explained by inducing apoptosis. Thus, they could be a potential novel therapeutic agent in colon cancer therapy.